Thread: Tijuana's 'death tourism' trade

Tijuana's 'death tourism' trade
Foreigners who want to end lives come for lethal barbiturate
Marc Lacey, New York Times

Monday, July 21, 2008

(07-21) 04:00 PDT Tijuana -- "Cocaine?" a hustler working Tijuana's seedy Avenida Revolucion called out on a recent night, his voice not the least bit muted.

"How about girls?"

When neither offering elicited the desired response, he tried another: "Cuban cigars?"

He could have continued for quite a bit longer reciting from Tijuana's extensive menu of contraband. One product from this border town, though, trumps all others in terms of shock value: death in a bottle.

The drug, pentobarbital, literally takes a person's breath away. It can kill by putting people to sleep, and it is tightly regulated in most countries. But aging and ailing people seeking a quick and painless way to end their lives say there is no easier place on earth than Mexico to obtain pentobarbital, a barbiturate commonly known as Nembutal.

Once widely available as a sleep aid, it is now used mostly to anesthetize animals during surgery and to euthanize them. Small bottles of its concentrated liquid form, enough to kill, can be found not on the shelves of the many discount pharmacies in Tijuana but in its pet shops, which sell a wide variety of animals as well as medications and other supplies for them.

"It is Mexico where Nembutal is most readily available," says "The Peaceful Pill Handbook," a book that lays out methods to end one's life. Co-written by Philip Nitschke, founder of Exit International, an Australian group that assists people who want to end their lives early, the book is banned in Australia and New Zealand. In the United States, though, it is only a few mouse clicks away online.

The book, as well as seminars that Nitschke offers, lays out strategies for dying. The most trouble-free and painless form of suicide, he contends, is to buy Mexican pentobarbital, which goes by brand names like Sedal-Vet, Sedalphorte and Barbithal.

Those in search of the drug, known as death tourists, scout out the veterinary pharmacies that abound in Tijuana.

Nitschke's book provides glossy photos of the many versions of pentobarbital that are most suitable for suicide. Buying it can be as easy as showing the pictures to a clerk and paying as little as $30 for a dose.

Pet shop clerks throughout Tijuana acknowledge that foreigners regularly inquire about the drug. "We've probably had 100 people come in asking for the drug in the last couple years," said Pepe Velazquez, a veterinarian and owner of the El Toro pharmacy.

Until El Norte, a regional newspaper, published an article recently that detailed how easy it was to buy pentobarbital - and how foreigners intended to use it - many store owners and clerks said they assumed the customers were using the drug to end the lives of their animals.

It turns out that some customers were buying it for human consumption. Nitschke estimates that 300 members of his group, most of them from Australia but some from the United States and Europe, have purchased the drug in Mexico in recent years. Some save it for when their health fails to the point that they no longer wish to live.

"To witness it, it looks as peaceful as can be," Nitschke said of death by pentobarbital. "I usually recommend that they take it with their favorite drink, since it has a bitter taste. I've never seen anyone finish their whiskey or champagne. There isn't enough time to give a speech. You go to sleep and then you die."

But now that word is out that the drug is being used for human consumption, local authorities have sought to clamp down on unauthorized purchases. Shops are now supposed to sell the drug only to licensed veterinarians who present a prescription.

Don Flounders, 78, suffers from mesothelioma, a rare and deadly form of cancer usually linked to exposure to asbestos. He had no problem getting pentobarbital when he traveled from Australia to Los Angeles in January and then crossed the border to Tijuana for a shopping trip.

"I went into the first shop that was advertised as being a vet and I showed the photo, and they handed it over," he said in a telephone interview from Australia.

Getting it home was more of a challenge. It is illegal to bring pentobarbital into the United States, and Exit International says U.S. Customs officers have seized the drug from at least three of its members. The group says no members have been caught with the drug by Australian customs officers.

But once he was home, Flounders, who campaigns on behalf of euthanasia, talked to a television news crew about his purchase. He was filmed bringing a bottle to a friend, Angie Belecciu, 56, who is dying of cancer and who helped to finance his trip to Mexico. Both of their houses were later searched by the Australian Federal Police. Assisted suicide is illegal in Australia.

Neither Flounders nor Belecciu has used the pentobarbital, and charges have not been filed against either of them.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 11SCSQ.DTL

"It can kill by putting people to sleep, and it is tightly regulated in most countries."

You might just change you minds on this when you are being fitted for your burkka!

People in pain, and dying; and then the drug cartel

Originally Posted by vmonkey56

People in pain, and dying; and then the drug cartel

Can you elaborate? I'm not sure if you agree with me or not?

I seem to have comprehension problems today.